That's why I started reading Red Dragon. Yes, I had to use that color and everything in order to write the name. I'll start off by saying that I'm a fan of Thomas Harris, particularly a fan of his fantastical character Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The only literary villain that I've had as much fun reading in a series of stories has been Lord Voldemort himself. Last year, I read Hannibal, and I loved it (I also lent it to a friend who had a gay old time with it). A few years before that, I read Silence of the Lambs. I remember so distinctly that Harris is one of the few authors whose books I've read have actually given me flashes of the movies. Granted, there are still differences (in some cases rather major ones that I shan't reveal due to their spoiler nature), but they're much less dramatic than some screen play treatments (i.e Flowers in the Attic).
When going in to the book, I'd already been in love with the movie, and the titular antagonist played by Ralph Fiennes (Also Voldemort's actor). I wasn't sure how the original character stacked up to how he was played, the same with Ed Norton's Detective Graham. Just like with Silence of the Lambs, there were times that I was able to sync the movie with the book, and picture all the characters. I had been told by a friend that the Dragon was actually not hot like Fiennes, but as I read further into the book, I found that comment wasn't exactly true.
Because this is just a review, and not a synopsis (something many a critiquing person seems to confuse), I won't get into the plot, I'll go straight into the style of writing. Harris does a few things with his style that I rarely see with other writers. Sometimes he uses jarringly short sentences, ones that give you a very clipped image of what is going on. Another thing he does (that to be honest, I thought was one of the cardinal writing rules you're not supposed to break) is switch tenses. Unlike back in the early days of my writing, his have a purpose, and make the reader feel as if they're right in the moment, watching it unfold with every word they read. It's actually refreshing for it to happen, and sometimes it's so subtle that I don't realize I'm in the present tense.
The copy of the book that I had was a PDF version, so there were typos on the behalf of whoever types it up, and there were a few images that I know I would have gotten if I had actually had a legit copy. What can I really say about PDF versions of books, they have their upsides and their downsides, but that's not for me to explore here.
Harris is careful about his language, and doesn't use any words that I would be forced to look up, something I like a lot. At just over 200 pages, it was a relatively fast read, although chocked full of information and some technical things. I feel like Harris is the kind of writer that checks his background information well, or has an editor that does a bloody brilliant job. I would say that this book, as with his other books, is a read for a mature reader. Now, I'm not saying a certain age, because I know I technically could have read this in middle school, but the main characters have some pretty shitty memories that they're forced to look back on, and we journey with them, including some really jacked up abuse and murders.
All in all, I really have to give this book two thumbs up. It's a Thomas Harris book. What more can I say.
Oh, and a little random fact that made me giggle: the Red Dragon's birthday is the day after mine. Gemini's whoop whoop!
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